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This Saturday November 4th two different cons will both be running in Charleston to raise money for charity.

At the Capital City Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police in Charleston will hold this year’s Extra Life Con, a board game convention to raise money for WVU Children Hospital. The event goes from 11am to 11pm and is part of the Extra Life charity Game Day.

From 2pm to 8pm there will be raffles for over a dozen donated prizes; such as board games and two passes to the Lock & Coded Escape Rooms. Entry to the event comes with five free tickets and you can buy more for $1 each.

There will be pods of Magic Commander, with free booster packs given out, through out the day as they get enough people. No extra fee to play. A tournament table will be set up with different games you can join for $2. Winners will receive an extra ten raffle tickets. Games will be played as they fill up.

The board game library from CharCon will have around fifty games for anyone to try and play. Donate old games and buy news ones, with the money going to the WVU Children’s Hospital.

Entry to the event is $25.

Mountain State Pop Expo will be at the South Charleston Holiday Inn and Suites both Saturday and Sunday. It is a celebration of fandom and a benefit for the Children’s Home Society of WV. The vendor room is open from 10am to 6pm with events in the panel rooms going even later.

Set up will be artists, writers, cosplayers, comic and toy dealers, the 501st, nerdy craft makers, video games, video production companies, Ghostbusters, table-top games, and more fun stuff to buy.

There will be a performance from Final Form Fusion belly-dancing, a cosplay contest, raffle prizes, and panels (including one on Nerd Music from myself).

Tickets are $10 for one day or $15 for both.

Either event looks like fun and helps out a good cause. In fact you could do both if you really wanted.

CharCon returns this year earlier than in the past. Leaving its date in October it this Friday July 21st to Sunday July 23rd. It has also moved from the Civic Center to the Clay Center in Charleston. Still the same old CharCon though.

This year’s games will include miniatures games of Aerodrome, Kings of War tournament, Tech Commander, Battletech, Warmachine/Hordes, Sailpower; a series of social deduction games like Werewolf and Resistant; board games Agricola, Pandemic Survival, Mystic Vale tournament, live action Red Dragon Inn, a Catan National Qualifier, a bunch of Play to Win games, and more; a series of Family Games on Sunday; RPGs from Pathfinder Society, SPARKS, Star Trek Adventures, Dungeon Dragons Adventures, Call of Cthulhu, Ponyfinder, and Metal, Magic, and Lore.

Non gaming events scheduled are a Quick Draw with JR Earls, a Sci-Fi Sing Along, the Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator, a murder mystery game, a game show, Junior Ghostbuster Training, panels, attendee swap meet on Sunday, a Paint and Take, and the CharCon Raffle. The con is trying to do a lot with cosplay this year as well. Besides their Cosplay Contests for adults on Saturday and kids on Sunday, they will be filming a cosplay video, holding photo shoots, a cosplay panel by Bunny Bombshell, a mermaid swim, the Mandolorian Mercs and Ghostbusters will be set up, and their only announced guest is cosplayer John Clark from Galaxy Productions.

Charcon After Dark will be going are at near by bars both Friday and Saturday night.

There will be reps from Portal Games, Mr. B Games. Vendors and exhibitors at the con will be selling all kinds of board, card, collectible, miniature games and gaming accessories, plus comics, art, dice, t-shirts, and more.

Admission for the weekend is $40, $30 for Friday or Sunday, and $25 for Saturday only passes. Children twelve and under can get in for $20 for the weekend or $10 for a single day. Non-gaming passes are available for $10 per day.

The con has a nice line up of gaming for all. I say any gamers out there can find something to do. There is also plenty for cosplayers.

The 5th 1d4Con is Friday May 5th starting at noon through Sunday May 7th till 6pm at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg. 1d4con is a gaming convention started by 1d4cast.

They have a wide range of gaming at the convention. Schedules boards game sessions for Doctor Who: Game of Time & Space, Firefly: The Board Game, and Car Wars Classic, Lords of Waterdeep, Ogre 6th Edition, among others, and tournaments of FRAG Gold Edition and Munchkin. LARPS of Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalyspe both for Minds Eye Theatre. Miniature games of Frostgrave, demos of Malifaux, and WarMachine/Hordes tournament and free play. Roleplaying game sessions for Call of Cthulhu, Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer’s League, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Dungeon World, Pathfinder Society, Shadowrun, Savage Worlds, Quiet Year, and several more. Plus there is a board game library and two Artemis Bridge Simulators. It seems there will also be movies shown, but I can not find hard info on it.

The charity for this year is The International Rescue Committee (IRC) you can give through the Games of Charity program and as part of their raffle. The Games of Charity allow you buy special tickets for certain games which can be used for special boons like re-rolls or bonuses to dice rolls. The raffle runs through Saturday night. Games of Charity tickets are $1 each; the raffle tickets are $3 each.

Bethany College is hosting an Unpub Mini event on January 21st at the Bethany Memorial Church in Bethany. It goes from 10am to 5pm. An Upub Mini is a small board game convention where people are given the chance to play test unpublished board games and provide designers feedback.

They will have published and unpublished designers there. There will be drawings for board games for anyone who helps play test and gives feedback. The college radio station, WVBC, will be broadcasting live from the event. Anyone with a game they would like to play test can sign-up at Unpub. The event is free to players and designers.

Bethany College regularly has people involved in the board game industry speak on campus as part of their Board Game Creator Seminar. On January 12 Cardboard Edison will be giving a lecture on campus at 4pm and is open to the public.

So those you like to play games, make their own games, want to make their own games, or talk about any of the above, give this a event a try.

Unpub’s Story

Founded in 2010 by John Moller, The Unpublished Games Network, called Unpub, is the hub for all information regarding the Unpub Network and events. The network is a growing community of game designers, publishers, players, retailers and artists working towards the creation of new and unique table top games that will keep people entertained for generations to come!

So who is in the Unpub network?

We support the game design and development community by organizing events designed to help unpublished games and their designers receive public play-tests and feedback. These events are open to anyone who wishes to attend and play these games. Players are asked evaluate the games based on their tastes and provide constructive criticism in the form of verbal and written feedback.

The gaming convention CharCon returns this Friday October 14th at noon to Sunday October 16th at 7pm at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston. The theme for this year is Fairy Tales.

Gaming for this include the Premier Board Game Tournament (with five new games to try), board game library from Appalachian Gamers, open gaming space, Aerodrome, Pathfinder Society, SPARKS (Star Wars), Confluence Meta RPG (FATE), Magic The Gathering tournaments, several social deduction games, Sailpower, Tech Commander, Settler’s of Catan US Championship Qualifier, Pure Steam RPG, Appalachian Cup (Warmachine), X-Wing tournament, Family Gaming on Sunday, demos and tutorials from 5th Epoch Publishing, State Championships finals for Diamonds, Nevermore, Letter Tycoon, Game of 49, Skull Kings, and Dimension, Double Exposure Envoy program with 50+ play to win games, many more other board games, war games, RPGs, and more.

For video gaming they have retro and fighting video games open play, Street Fighter V tournament, Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator, and challenge the members of the band Black Hole Zion in Street Fighter for the band’s swag.

Besides gaming the con will have panels from the 501st, on miniature modeling, and board game design, a Flea Market and Costume Contest on Saturday, a Kid’s Costume Contest on Sunday, a photo booth set-up, a kid’s area run by the Causeplayers group, and appearances from the WV Ghostbusters and their 30ft Say-Puff and Ecto-1.

The con will also have two CharCon after Dark events. Friday a the Blue Parrot with four rock bands, $5 cover charge $3 with CharCon badge. Saturday at the Monkey Barrel for games, prizes, music, drinks.

1d4Con, the convention from the 1d4cast, is back this year from Friday April 15th at to Sunday April 17 at the Comfort Inn Aikens Center in Martinsburg. Doors and registration start at noon on Friday and gaming starts at 2pm.

Games scheduled for this year include Car Wars, Firefly Board Game, Frostgrave, Malifaux, The Quiet Year, Mind’s Eye Theater LARPs, X-Files Board Game along with their game library. RPGs for this are 13th Age, Call of Cthulhu, Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, Dread, Dungeons & Dragons (Advanced 1st edition and 5th edition with D&D Adventure League and Greyhawk Reborn), Fate Core, Fantasy Age, GURPS, Lady Blackbird, Marvel Superheroes (Project: Crusaders rules), Gumshoe, Robotech: Shadow Chronicles, Savage Worlds, Shadowrun, Stars Wars (Age of Rebellion, Edge of Empire, and Saga Edition), and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Plus they have Play to Win board games of Between Two Cities and Viticulture. They have special tournaments as well: 1d4Con Frag Championship, 1d4Con Munchkin Madness, and Warmachines Appalachian Cup Qualifier.

They will have panels for the first time. They are Evil GMing, Designing Adventures for Fantasy RPGs, Costuming for LARPs, Diceless Tabletop Roleplaying, and Heroic Gaming 101. They have a vendors room, open space for open gaming, movie screenings, and more.

Games of Charity Drive is 1d4Con’s special fundraiser for The Red Wagon Ministry. Players, and GMs, can purchase tickets for $1 that they can use in certain games to gain special boons, such as re-rolls or bonuses to rolls. They will also be holding a raffle (which they are calling an auction) with the winners being pulled on Saturday night. Raffle tickets are $2 each.

Pre-registration is already closed, but at door registration is $35 for the weekend, $25 for two days, $15 for Saturday, and $10 for Friday or Sunday. Children 10 and under get in free with an adult.

Casting Call is a card game designed by to Charleston natives and theater performers, Stephen Hawyard and Erin Murphy. One day Stephen got the idea to mix his two passions of gaming and theater together, so he got Erin to help with the design work. And now they are looking for help to fund their idea on Kickstarter.

The game is simple. You play as a Broadway producer trying to get your cast together by playing cards before your rivals can. Complete three Cast Sets which include Diva, Leading Man, Chrous members, and more. Other cards include Scottish Play, Understudy, and Break A Leg. The game plays from two to five and takes between half an hour to a full hour.

Rewards offered include getting your name on their Thank You page of their website, copies of the game, prints of the characters, illustrated poster of yourself as your favorite Broadway character, a deck of the game with you as a one of the character types, and a pizza party with one of the creators of the game.

They are currently at $1,730 of their $2,500 goal with 24 days left to go. You can help out some fellow West Virginians and get a nice simple quick game to play with friends.